Without human intelligence, there is no artificial intelligence.
Talking about Artificial Intelligence was already becoming fashionable in 2018. Robots, algorithms, blockchains and augmented reality seemed to be taking over the world, while automation was eliminating some jobs and creating others. The problem was not only a shortage of jobs, but a shortage of the technical skills needed to occupy new ones. So the question was: who is the future we are creating actually for?
The Freelance Report 2017 projected major changes in the U.S. workforce, while research from the Oxford Internet Institute documented companies increasing their use of online freelance talent platforms. Organizations were already looking for professionals in new disciplines, including some that barely existed yet.
Without human intelligence, there is no artificial intelligence. Research from the World Economic Forum also emphasized that technical skills alone would not be enough. Critical thinking, solving complex problems, negotiation, emotional intelligence, teamwork and service orientation were becoming increasingly important for work and for the future.
At Carïcaco, our bet was on people who cultivated what we called Entrepreneurial Intelligence. The idea was that people would need greater capacity to change as their environment changed. This intelligence combined technical and strategic human skills with continuous preparation, a growth mindset and a balance between mind and heart, knowledge and passion.
Entrepreneurial Intelligence cuts across human economic activity and can create value both through financial results and social impact. The people who practice it are ambitious and ethical, aware of the world around them. They may work inside a company and want to excel, or they may be willing to take new risks and follow different paths.
Carl Sagan wrote about curiosity and the drive to solve problems as distinctive characteristics of our species. Those characteristics move human organizations forward, and many of the dilemmas we face are ethical. Respect and solidarity, for example, provide an ethical frame for both our personal and professional lives.
I wrote then that, in the spirit of a Jedi resistance, we could oppose abuse, injustice, corruption, authoritarianism and dysfunctional systems while also becoming part of the response — creating new forms of innovation capable of changing old paradigms.
We were also confronting an environmental crisis at planetary scale. The invitation was to become conscious of the habits that brought us there and of our responsibility for changing them. We cannot solve today's problems with the same thinking, institutions and systems that produced them.
Entrepreneurial Intelligence: technical capability, human capability, growth mindset, ethics and purpose.
That was why Carïcaco invited people to develop entrepreneurial intelligence: to combine technical ability with empathy and human capacity. Every intention, decision and action should be one that people seven generations into the future could look back on with gratitude and pride. The ambition was a different planet and a collective metamorphosis toward a humanity that is more sensitive, sustainable and prosperous.
Archive note: the labor projections, figures and references belong to the 2017–2018 context and are not presented as current data. What matters here is the thesis: technical capability becomes more valuable when human capability grows with it.